Science
Tämä sivu löytyy myös Suomeksi! Science in the World The level of scientific advancement in the lands of Alo’ter differs widely. Gunpowder weapons, for example, are only found in the possession of the most forward-minded nobles and generals, but they do exist and in fact do not explode in the user’s face in the majority of cases. Philosophy has advanced far enough for people to be wondering whether those who do not think exist in the first place, thus reducing the philosophical world population by about two thirds. On the other end of the spectrum, and despite cautionary tales of Urrlumps - unpleasant creatures that like filthy places - some peasants in the more remote areas of the world have still not learned to build the outhouse far away from the well, and the potentates especially in the northern reaches of the world tend to actively prevent spreading of knowledge by driving wandering scholars of their property, since all they really need to know is how to hit their neighbours on the head if those greedy bastards try to steal their land, thank you very much. On the continent of Agellera, His Imperial Majesty’s Durrin Empire possesses the Great Academies, which, over the centuries, have done much for the advancement of human knowledge in many fields such as chemistry, alchemy, theology, physics, philosophy, geography, warfare and medicine, the latter two often effectively cancelling each other out when the number of dead soldiers after a war are counted. During the phase of the expansion, no other nation was as advanced as the Empire, which made conquering those primitive countries so much easier. These days, however, most discoveries are spread quite evenly throughout the southern and eastern part of the continent, while the west lags behind by at least 50 years and the hopeless northern provinces are not interested in any technology that has not stood the test of time for about a century. Part of the reason for the technological discrepancy is that the provinces in the north tend to rebel pretty regularly once every century or so, and thus the rulers of the empire are reluctant to send them anything more advanced than sticks that are sharper than those they already have. The torn landscape, with often several day’s travel in between major settlements, also serves to discourage travelling scholars from going there with any kind of regularity. On the Easten continent, Kallitera, structures evolved differently until the Empire’s invasion force came along. No great nation had formed until that point, and the infrastructure for development was not great, but in much of the coastal region, science was considered a ruler’s privilege. As such, it was not seen as a harmless pastime, but as a mark of a man’s – and woman’s – skill and suitability to a noble post. Since the nobility had quite a lot of free time to spend on their research, they had advanced quite far until the Empire came along. Old structures die hard, and even after the coast was firmly in the hands of the Emperor, the nobles – who were often of the same families as before, having known when to switch sides – kept their practice of research. To this day, there are no true academies, but only a system of masters and apprentices. Though science is, in accordance to the practices of the Empire, no longer exclusively limited to the nobles, it is still viewed as mostly their domain, and only an extraordinarily gifted common person can be accepted into scholarly ranks. Unlike on Agellera, simply buying a place as an apprentice is uncommon, since the masters usually own enough wealth in the first place and it is frowned upon by other scholars. Thus, science and knowledge are still rather limited to an elite, but that elite takes care of the population and teaches craftsmen the practical aspects of the research when they need to know. In some respects, Kallitera is more advanced than Agellera, especially when it comes to Astronomy and Optics. The level of Science 'Natural Sciences' Natural sciences in both continents are not well enough defined to split them into physics, chemistry and so on. There are, of course, certain trends for researchers to focus on one area, like the study of living things, but nobody would question his or her right to switch areas at any time, or publish treatises on anything that he has not studied before. In many cases, the knowledge is still so limited that one person of high intelligence can become an expert in a field within a year of dedicated study, given a sufficient background and access to the proper texts. Chemistry is pretty basic. Scholars know that heat makes some things react in some way with other things. They are pretty sure that most things consist of a mixture of a few basic materials, but no name for the latter has been agreed upon and their number is open for discussion. For the most part, chemistry is an applied science, mixing this with that and looking at the results. Usually, the goal of a chemist is to find something useful and reproducible. Figuring out what happens and why is of less interest than the result. Gunpowder and the resulting weapons are a good example. Metallurgy is an important field of research as well. Alchemy is similar to chemistry and somewhat older. In fact, the word chemistry has been in use only recently by those scholars trying to distance themselves from those who use immeasurable things in their research, such as moonlight or virgin’s blood, as opposed to any old blood. Thus, alchemy has a certain mystical component and often has ties to religion. Anything and everything can be the goal of an alchemist, and in order to achieve it, he will attempt any number of things. Often, the how is more important to the alchemist than the why. Electricity '''is known, but of little interest. Production and storage methods are limited to producing a light tickling feeling when touched. Some scholars have tried to harness the power of lightning itself, but most have ended up as burned corpses and were unable to pass whatever they learned on to the next generation. There has been talk of an experiment on Kallitera involving cats and a huge number of amber rods, but that may just as well be a scientific legend. Opinions of the '''study of heavenly bodies are split; some say that this is the god’s domain and should be left alone, others say that this is the exact reason why studying the skies is so important. While no god has been found so far, optics have advanced so much that planets have been identified that lie well beyond the range of the naked eye. This effect has also been used in smaller, handheld devices. These so-called telescopes are expensive, but worth the money for most military commanders. The study of planets rotating periodically has led to questions about the shape of the world and the force keeping the objects in the sky, but no definite answer has been found yet. The properties of various materials states have come under inspection. It is known that lack of air can press on things and that having a high water reservoir puts strain on connected barrels or vents far below. The makeup of crystals and amorphous materials is being investigated, as scientists have noticed that some materials, while hard, tend to crack easily. It has also been noted that different materials tend to conduct warmth at different speeds. The science of life mostly consists of behavioural study. Balance of animals is a subject currently of much interest, and some scholars add the balance of plants to the equation. Animals are also used for dissections in the medical science, since a human dissection tends to make the neighbours a tad nervous. The academies have started collecting and categorizing samples of anything their scholars can get their hands on, but no system has been agreed upon as a standard. The origin of life is widely sought in religion. 'Mathematics ' Calculations for their own sake are a well-known discipline and pursued by many scholars who wish to keep away from practical experiments. Practical application of theorems is found in architecture, the primitive mechanics that exist so far and in production of more theorems. The use of purely geometrical figures in proofs is common, as a description of geometry with numbers is not widespread. Equations and their treatment are known and new methods for solving them sought after. Some shared ground with philosophy is the area of logic, where a symbolism for writing down trains of thought is looked for. 'Philosophy' Philosophy is spread very widely as a hobby of the noble classes. Every philosopher tends to have his own ideas and to be unable to prove them, since they almost exclusively rely on thoughts and thought experiments. The field is intimately related to theology and has only recently begun to split off from that branch of thought, viewing the human as an entity separate from the gods and animals. While most noble practitioners of this art try to justify their claim to rule the land, some revolutionary thinkers have – anonymously, of course – suggested that all humans may, in fact, be born equal. Many ideas and philosophical schools are localized, as the original thinkers are often best at argumentation and tend to convince those who they meet personally, while their pupils lack that talent. 'Medicine ' Medicine is hampered by the fact that human dissections are frowned upon, but despite that, sketches of bones in the human body and its muscles and important blood vessels have come into circulation. Some basics are known to every barber and all surgeons: Keep a wound clean, otherwise it will be infected; taking blood from an ill patient is a bad idea; if you eat the wrong food for too long, you can get sick; if you don’t set a bone before it heals it will be crooked forever. Many medicaments still rely on folk knowledge or practical experimentation on mortally ill patients and their workings are not explained properly, but some cure for many illnesses has been found. The most prevalent current theory is that plants are good for body parts that they resemble. Category:Symposium Category:Intime